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CESA Market Development Forum

2026 CESA MDF Banner

17th Annual CESA Market Development Forum (MDF)

The 17th Annual CESA Market Development Forum (MDF) brought California’s energy storage community together on October 7–8, 2026, at the Hilton Arden West in Sacramento for two days of policy and market discussions, industry insights, and valuable connections.

The 2026 program featured Opening Keynote Speaker Anna McKenna, Vice President of Market Design and Analysis at the California ISO, along with keynote speakers Alice Reynolds of the California ISO Board of Governors and Commissioner Noemí Gallardo of the California Energy Commission. They were joined by speakers representing the CAISO, CPUC, CEC, E3, utilities, CCAs, developers, and other organizations from across California’s energy industry.

Agenda

8:00 AM - 8:40 AM

Member Registration and Breakfast

8:40 AM - 9:30 AM

Annual CESA Member Meeting (CESA Members Only)

In this session, CESA members will discuss the key challenges and opportunities facing the energy storage industry and CESA’s strategic priorities for 2027. 

8:30 AM - 9:30 AM

Non-member Registration

9:30 AM - 9:35 AM

Opening Remarks

Scott Murtishaw

Executive Director, CESA

9:35 AM - 9:55 AM

Opening Keynote Speaker - Anna McKenna, Vice President, Market Design and Analysis, California Independent System Operator (ISO)

Anna McKenna

Vice President, Market Design and Analysis, California Independent System Operator (ISO)

9:55 AM - 10:25 AM

Coffee Break

AES

Break Sponsor

10:25 AM - 11:00 AM

The Next Decade of Storage: Market Progress and Drivers

This session will discuss the current market trends in energy storage and illuminate some of the key factors that determine the demand for clean energy and storage over the next decade. 

Arne Olson

Senior Partner, Energy+Environmental Economics (E3)

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Panel - Cannibalized by the Curve: Examining Storage’s Missing Value and How To Fix It

To achieve ambitious decarbonization goals, western grid operators require an unprecedented deployment of utility-scale energy storage. Yet, the economic engine driving this buildout faces an existential paradox: as more storage floods the grid to shift solar abundance, it flattens the very price spreads that sustain its market revenues. 

This panel will dissect the regulatory and market design blind spots that leave storage’s true decarbonization value uncompensated. While storage provides the least-cost pathway to meeting stringent emissions reduction targets, what is the best approach to capturing that value via IRP frameworks, Resource Adequacy (RA) designs, or clean energy procurement obligations?

Nathan Barcic

Program Manager, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)

James Bushnell

Co-Director, Davis Energy Economics Program, UC Davis

Rahul Kalaskar

Sr. Director of Regulatory Policy, AES Corporation

Moderator: Perry Servedio

CESA’s IRP & RA Working Groups; Director, GDS Associates, Inc.

12:00 PM - 1:10 PM

Lunch

1:10 PM - 1:30 PM

Keynote Speaker - Alice Reynolds, California ISO Board of Governors; Former President, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)

Alice Reynolds

California ISO Board of Governors; Former President, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)

1:30 PM - 2:15 PM

Resource Adequacy for EDAM: Program Design, Storage Accreditation, and Market Opportunities

As the Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM) evolves, a new Resource Adequacy (RA) framework is being developed to support reliability across participating entities. This session will provide an update on the status of the proposed RA program, explain how energy storage resources are expected to be accredited, and explore how California ISO (CAISO) resources may be be able to provide RA capacity to EDAM entities. Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of the proposed framework and its potential implications for storage and market participants.

Pam Sporborg

Senior Director, Transmission and Market Strategy, Portland General Electric

2:15 PM - 3:15 PM

Panel - Cracking the LDES Capacity Value Code: Reforming Slice-of-Day for Multi-Day Reliability

With California mandating multi-gigawatt procurements of Long-Duration Energy Storage (LDES) and Multi-Day Storage (MDS) to handle winter net-load drops, the market has run headfirst into a structural roadblock: the Slice-of-Day (SOD) RA framework is fundamentally built for a single, 24-hour period. It currently has no native way to reward an asset that operates over multiple days. This diverse panel of energy storage stakeholders will explore options for integrating the value of LDES into California’s reliability programs. 

Gabe Murtaugh

Director of Market Development, Hydrostor

Liam Pitman

Principal Strategic Analyst, PG&E

Michael Quiroz

Senior Regulatory & Data Analyst, Ava Community Energy

Karl Dunkle Werner

Senior Analyst, Public Advocates Office, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)

Moderator: Perry Servedio

CESA’s IRP & RA Working Groups; Director, GDS Associates, Inc.

Sheppard

Panel Sponsor

3:15 PM - 3:45 PM

Coffee Break

SMUD

Break Sponsor

3:45 PM - 4:45 PM

Panel - Unlocking FTM DERs - Overcoming the Mid-Scale Storage Bottleneck

California's clean energy planning has largely centered on utility-scale resources, and distribution-connected projects in the 1-10 MW range have found it harder to gain traction. What role could this "middle" segment play in meeting the state's energy goals, and what would need to be true for it to compete on its merits?

Kerry Fleisher

Director of Distributed Energy Resources, Natural Gas, and Retail Rates, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)

Liz Gill

Reliability Analysis Branch Manager, California Energy Commission (CEC)

Hillary Hebert

Founder & Principal, HMH Energy Consulting Inc.

James McGarry

Founder and Principal Consultant, McGarry Energy Solutions

Moderator: Karolina Maslanka

Policy Director, CESA

4:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Closing Remarks

5:00 PM - 6:30 PM

Reception

Keep the conversation going with light refreshments and great company at the Hilton Arden West. Connect with fellow attendees and speakers, continue the day’s discussions, and build new connections across the energy storage community.

NextEra Energy Resources, LLC

Reception Sponsor

8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

Breakfast and Registration

9:00 AM - 9:30 AM

Keynote Speaker - Commissioner Noemí Gallardo, California Energy Commission

Commissioner Noemí Gallardo, California Energy Commission

9:30 AM - 10:30 AM

Panel - Telling the BESS Story: Safety, Media, and Community Engagement

Earning and maintaining public trust has become a critical component of successful BESS project development. This panel will bring together communications experts, public affairs officials, and industry leaders to discuss effective strategies for communicating BESS safety, addressing community concerns, countering misinformation, and engaging local stakeholders and decision-makers. Attendees will gain practical insights on building credible narratives around energy storage’s role in supporting affordability, a reliable grid, energy resilience, and clean energy goals while fostering informed community support.

Miranda Ehrlich

Senior Director of Campaigns, Greenlight America

Jeff St. John

Chief Reporter and Policy Specialist, Canary Media

Julia Poska

Communications Manager, Clearway Energy Group

Jessyca Sheehan

Executive Vice President and Partner, Lucas Public Affairs

Ashanti Washington

National Media Director, Reliable Grid Project

Moderator: Cara Martinson

CESA’s Safety & Permitting Working Group; Lobbyist, Capitol Advocacy

10:30 AM - 11:00 AM

Coffee Break

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Panel - DAME in Practice: Early Results for Imbalance Reserves and Reliability Capacity

In May 2026, CAISO implemented the day-ahead market enhancements which introduce new market products: imbalance reserves to address uncertainty between day-ahead and real-time and expanded reliability capacity to include a downward product.  CAISO will provide its perspective on the performance of the new products in meeting their objectives and  REV Renewables will provide their perspective as a storage operator bidding and being awarded the new products.

James Friedrich

Lead Policy Developer, California Independent System Operator (CAISO)

Rayan El Helou

Power Trader, REV Renewables

Moderator: Don Tretheway

CESA’s CAISO Working Group; Managing Director, GDS Associates, Inc.

12:00 PM - 1:15 PM

Lunch

1:15 PM - 2:00 PM

Panel - The Price is Right?

As energy storage projects become more widespread and solar PV projects are losing their exemptions from property taxes in California, project developers are facing widely disparate property tax assessments depending on the methodologies and assumptions local tax assessors choose. Similarly, in the absence of formally adopted impact mitigation fees, fire districts across the state are demanding very different contributions to cover the expected costs of responding to incidents at PV and BESS facilities. In this panel, we’ll discuss what project developers should know about their rights when discussing tax assessments and fee requests with local jurisdictions.

Stephanie Doyle

California State Affairs Director, SEIA

Anne Mudge

Partner, Cox Castle

Moderator: Scott Murtishaw

Executive Director, CESA

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Panel - Powering Big Tech: Unlocking Storage Opportunities in the Data Center Boom

California helped create the digital economy, yet much of the nation’s new hyperscale data center development is occurring in Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, and other fast-growing markets. As AI drives unprecedented electricity demand, states are competing to attract investment while balancing reliability, affordability, and clean energy goals. What factors are steering data center development away from California? Are there policy, planning, permitting, or infrastructure changes that could improve the state’s competitiveness? And regardless of where data centers are built, what opportunities does the resulting load growth create for energy storage developers, utilities, and technology providers across the Western grid?

Sean Jones

Senior Staff Business Development Manager, Megapack, Tesla

Rahul Kalaskar

Sr. Director of Regulatory Policy, AES Corporation

Danielle Mills

Director for Infrastructure Policy Development, California ISO

Maren Wenzel

Director of Regulatory Policy and Planning, Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE)

Moderator: Karolina Maslanka

Policy Director, CESA

3:00 PM - 3:15 PM

Wrap-Up and Next Steps

Thank You to Our 2026 Sponsors!

RECEPTION SPONSOR

Nextera-NEER-logo-800

GOLD SPONSOR

Constellation-800

SILVER SPONSOR

REV_logo_blue

PANEL SPONSOR

Sheppard

BREAK SPONSORS

AES Energy
SMUD-Logo-500

PARTNER

California-Community-Choice-Association-600

Questions?

Please direct all event or registration questions to info@storagealliance.org. Not a member of CESA? Becoming a member gives you access to resources, connections, and events to support your journey in the energy storage sector. Learn more about our membership benefits!